Tick Tock Goes the Clock
by anonymouseling
Summary: A mysterious nursery rhyme and hallucinations start to haunt Kid. Increasing in volume, will he be able to over come them before he finally snaps? (Kinda creepy? Just a warning.)
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**  
"Hey Kid, are you alright? You seem tired." Liz asked at the breakfast table, she was looking at Kid with a worried look on her face. Kid was just staring at his cereal bowl, spoon in hand. He looked like his normal self, but the only addition was dark shadows under his eyes. He suddenly looked up at Liz, breaking out of his trance.

"Yes, Liz. I'm perfectly fine." He put a spoon of cereal into his mouth, and then got up from the table. "Come on. We're going to be late."

"But Kid, it's not even seven yet." Liz said.

"I said, come on." his voice was ruptured ever so slightly by fear. Liz and Patty shrugged and put their food away, following Kid to school.

* * *

"Tick tock. Goes the clock. And what then shall we see? Tick tock until the day. That thou shalt marry me. Tick tock. Goes the clock. And all the years they fly. Tick tock and all too soon. You and I must die." Kid heard faintly. His eyes widened as he started down at his notebook. The nursery rhyme he was hearing was sung by children, he heard with it haunting music. His breathing spiked. Not this again. He thought with terror.

He shook his head and looked down towards where Stein was meant to be teaching, writing things on the black board, occationally showing them diagrams. His attention wasn't on Stein however, it was on the space in front of him where there was a circle of children, holding hands and singing. When they started to repeat their song, a new verse sprang up as they all turned their head towards Kid.

"Tick...tock...goes the clock. We laughed...at fate and mourned her...Tick...tock goes the clock...even for the reaper."

Kid stood up in his chair, and hurried for the door. He pulled it open, and there were five children stood outside it, singing the same song. He pushed past them, making a run for it. Anywhere. Anywhere but here.

The class he left behind was staring at the door after Kid. Leaving the name "Kid!" hanging in the air from when Liz shouted it just as the reaper left.

Stein coughed. "Well. Getting back to the lesson. The number of souls a person has to consume before turning into a keshin isn't a definative number..."

And the lesson went on. The only difference was that Liz and Patty were left to wonder what was going on with their meister.

* * *

"Hey Liz, do you know what's wrong with Kid?" Maka turned and asked the weapon out of concern moments after class finished.

"I've no idea. This morning Kid was acting all spacey, and tired. Like something was bothering him. But when I asked, he said everything was okay and made us skip breakfast to get here. Now he's just ran out in the middle of class. I'm getting worried about him."

"Yeah. He didn't even notice that I was wearing a badge on the right side of my top." Patty added. Maka looked down at the badge that hung from Patty's top. It was a small metal girafee pin, certainly Kid would have gone mad, telling Patty to take it off since it was ruining the symetrical balance of the two sisters.

"Maybe we should talk to him," Tsubaki added. "It's lunch now right? We should go find him."

"That idiot. Taking all the attention by running out of class. I should have done that months ago!" Black Star grumbled.

"Black Star. This is serious, Kid could have something wrong with him." Tsubaki said, her caring voice was worried for the safety of the reaper they called a friend.

"Yeah..." Liz said. She felt lost almost. The person who saved her and her sister from themselves was struggling with something. And no one knew what is was to help. She was determined to help, whatever the cost.

* * *

_So that's the first chapter? I'm not sure when I'll post the next one, or how many chapters they'll be but I do know that I want to finish this by Halloween? Been a long while since I've posted anything, and I think my first time posting Soul Eater? Either way, see you next chapter! Please review if you liked it, or have any advice. Thankies. _

_-Mouseling_

_EDIT: Oh, and also I do not own the little creepy chant. It's from Doctor Who Night Terrors. I've only edited the last word of the whole song to fit the story. But if you've not heard it, then search it up on YouTube. It's pretty creepy really, especially whilst wearing headphones. _


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Kid was sat at a table in the Cafeteria, he stared at his hands but saw nothing. He wasn't focusing on life. All he could focus on was the constant singing being whispered in his ears by children. They were stood around him, nine children all singing the same words.

_Tick tock. Goes the clock. And what then shall we see?_

The children consisted of five boys and four girls. All of them were the total amount of nine year olds in Death City. Kid had seen all of them around the city, met the majority and talked to a few. The only peculiar thing about the children was the fact they were dressed in Victorian era clothing.

_Tick tock until the day. That thou shalt marry me._

The children had taken to holding each others hands and slowly moving around in a circle around Kid's seat. He gripped his fists tighter as they kept singing. He briefly looked up. It was a girl with blonde ponytails, her dress was blue with a white dirty apron. Her clothes had a few tears and she had dirt on her face also.

_Tick tock. Goes the clock. And all the yea-_

The singing was cut off by the shaking of his shoulders and a voice.

"Kid, what's wrong? Answer me!"

Kid focused his attention upwards. He saw the face of Liz in front of him with her hands on his shoulders.

"Liz...? What're you...?" he asked, a tad confused. There had been children surrounding him just a few moments ago. Where did they go?

"Oh thank god. We thought you have gone into a coma or something." Liz sighed.

'We?' Death the Kid thought. He then looked behind and around Liz. There was his friends, Patty was stood just behind Liz and so was Tsubaki. Maka and Soul were sat two seats over to Kid with a seat separating them. Blackstar was sat next to Kid on his left, Crona next to him.

"Oh...uh. I'm fine. I was just tired. Must have zoned out there." Kid reassured them, he pulled a small smile for them.

Liz sighed in relief and Soul, Patty and Tsubaki also smiled. "Well that's a relief! But what happened in class? You looked so troubled..." Maka asked.

"Oh. I suddenly remembered that the Gents bathroom mirror wasn't symmetrical. I immediately had to adjust th- Hey wait! Patty how long have you had that badge on your shirt?!"

"Oh? This thing? I put it on this morning! It's cute isn't it!" Patty giggled.

"Take it off now! You're making it impossible to match Liz!" Kid yelled standing from his chair, his hands on the table.

"You really think he's telling the truth?" Maka whispered to Soul, she was still worried. He may sound normal but his excuse and past actions didn't match up all that well.

"I don't know, Maka. But if he won't tell us what's up then we can't help him. Maybe we should let him sort it out himself, or wait for him to tell us." Soul shrugged. He was worried too but he wasn't as worried as Maka.

Patty giggled as Kid kept yelling at her. "Okay okay! I'll take it off." She giggled once more before unpinning the badge from her shirt and putting it safely in her pocket.

"Thank you. Now, let's eat." Kid said sitting down and pulling out his boxed meal from his backpack. He then passed a boxed lunch each to Liz and Patty.

* * *

The day had rolled on and the time had turned to midnight. Kid couldn't sleep, just like the night before. He sat on his bed, knees folded up to his chin and his arms holding them close to his body.

The children were circling him again, singing, laughing, skipping. The song was on loop over and over again. It never stopped, but when the children appeared the song was applified, it was fairly easy to ignore if the children weren't around.

But he couldn't take it anymore. He looked to the face of one of the children. It was a girl, she had black hair and green eyes, her attire consisted of a pale pink dress with short sleeves, her hair tied back into a neat pony tail.

He had seen her somewhere before. Before he knew it, he was pushing past the children and sneaking along the corridor and down the stairs.

He was out the door, knife in hand in a matter of moments.

He was wandering down the streets of Death City. Looking in windows, and attempting to open the doors. He had found none of them yet, and the time was verging on 1am.

He sighed and turned down the street to the left of him. He walked halfway up the street before looking in the window.

A girl was sat there playing with dolls littered about her. A smile on her face and a laugh in her throat. Her hair was mousy brown and tied into two plaits that fell down onto her chest, the light from the street shone into her eyes and showed a pale green. She wore some loose pajamas but when Kid blinked her pajamas were gone and her dress of green was in their place.

He grinned. He had found one at last.

Walking up to the door, he straightened his image up. Getting rid of the creepy grin and replacing it with a slight smile, hiding the knife up his sleeve, and straightening his jacket. He then rapped gently on the door, waiting for the child to open.

After a minute or so, the door opened and the girl stood there looking up at him.

"Oh hello there," Kid smiled at her. "I was just walking home when I saw you were playing with your dolls through the window. It looked like you were having a lot of fun. Do you think I could join you?"

She looked up and down at the reaper in front of her. She was told from a young age that the Death family were the protectors of the city they lived in, and no harm would come from them. Plus she did want to play with someone as it was starting to get a tad bit boring on her own.

"Sure!" she said, smiling. The girl opened the door fully, grabbed hold of his hand then pulled him in excitedly. "You can play with Mr Scrumpl-" her talking suddenly ceased. The only sounds that was coming from the child was the mute gargling as the child choked on her own blood. Death the Kid stood and looked down at the child with barely any remorse. He walked out of the house and down the street.

There was one less voice singing. He grinned. He had finally found out how to overcome the children singing. For now, he was alright. With just one voice down, his head became just that bit more clearer.

He started to skip back to Death Mansion, relief flowing strongly through him.

* * *

"Morning ladies, eat your breakfast. Long day ahead of us, we're heading out on a mission first thing." Death the Kid said, knocking on the girls' shared room.

"He sounds a lot better! Right sis?" Patty asked in her usual peppy voice.

"It's too eaaarrllyyy." Liz whined after glancing at the clock beside her bed. The time red 5:30, the sisters were up half an hour earlier than usual.

By the time the three of them had gotten ready, full of food and prepared for their mission, there was a call from the nearby mirror.

Kid walked over and accepted it. "Yes, father?"

Lord Death was visible in the mirror like he always was. "Kid! Ah, good you've not left."

"We were just about to leave," Kid stated. "Why, is something wrong?"

"I'll say! Last night at around 1 o' clock in the morning a child was murdered."

"Oh no, that's horrible!" Liz said, putting a hand over her mouth.

"Yes, indeed it is. It seems like there was no struggle, and he throat was slit with a sharp knife. It doesn't seem like this is a usual keshin, but it is a possibility with the low number of crimes in Death City. I need you to stay here for now until this is resolved."

"Alright, father. Thanks for informing me." Kid nodded as Lord Death's image left the mirror being replaced with Kid's form, his weapons stood behind him.

"Whoever could have killed that kid? It's a horrible thing to do!" Liz said.

"Some people have different views on killing, Liz. We'll get out of their way and let the academy deal with whoever did it." Death the Kid said. "Let's go anyway, no harm in being early to class."

* * *

The bell for class rang through the school, and in the classroom sat Kid, Liz and Patty.

"Urgh! Finally! I was getting bored with waiting." Liz sighed, stretching in her seat. They had been sat in the classroom for half an hour. There was a small influx of people, then a slow dribble until Stein came in. Maka and Soul came in with the first group, they smiled when they saw Kid pretty much himself again. And as usual, Black Star and Tsubaki came in late, Tsubaki apologising to no end until they took their seats. Black Star commented and Tsubaki smiled.

"Alright class, some news for you. Last night a child was murdered in her home. We don't know if it's a possible keshin, but still. I will advise you to keep your guard up and an eye out." Stein announced, his usually dull voice held an undertone of seriousness.

Through the class, people muttered. Some 'That's horrible!', some 'What sick person would do that?' and then some 'Poor girl.'  
"Now that that's out of the way, let's get back to our usual class. Today we'll be learning about Keshin habits..." Stein continued, his voice returning to normal.

Class went on. And night drew closer and closer. Kid was sat at his bed, the voices were there and the hallucinations had returned. There was eight children dancing and skipping, singing along. The exact same children, the only difference was the child who stood behind him. She wore the exact same clothes that she was wearing when Kid had decided to visit, her thair was exactly the same.  
Her throat was slit and blood was poured down her front. Her eyes were dead and barely focused on the back of Kid's head. her complexion was deathly pale and fragile. This was no news to Kid though.

He had been seeing her all day.

Even when the other children were away, and all seemed normal, she'd be standing next to him.  
Had her image not been stalking her before death, he would have felt remorse, or sorrow. But he was just thankful that she had shut up.

He stood up from his bed as 12:23 had rolled onto his alarm clock. He pulled open the secret draw under his bed and grabbed the knife he had used to kill the girl last night.

He was going child hunting.

* * *

_Heh. So...I clearly missed the date in which I was meant to finish this by. Oh well. I have several reasons actually, but fuck it. Okay. I'm now giving myself until the end of this month. It shouldn't be too hard since I pretty much have the slowest part done, and from now on it picks up a lot. I doubt they'll be that many more chapters. Probably about five or six. The chapters will hopefully get longer also if I actually put some effort into it. If I do then I'll come back to these chapters and extend them, but I'll tell you when I do that in later chapters. I should probably get the next chapter up by next week. _

_Review if you have any comments and maybe a follow of the story to keep up? Thanks!_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"Thank you all for coming!" Lord Death said in the biggest room that the DWMA had, every class school was in this single room. "By now you must have heard of the child killer that is loose in Death City. It doesn't appear to be a possible keshin but it is still terrorising our city! So far a total of six children have been killed in a total of one week. The killer leaves no trace and there doesn't seem to be any resistance from the children. I just want you all to be aware, I know that some of you have younger siblings, or relatives in this city. But others don't. Please keep an eye out, regardless. We do not know the ages they are targeting so also people in the younger years travel in pairs or more. Professor Stein's class will be assigned to streets for protection of the children. That is all."

Lord Death stopped speaking and made his way off the stage, then through a mirror. Death the Kid who had been stood next to his father, walked to where his father had been stood.

"Everyone but Professor Stein's class - Class E1 - is dismissed. E1 will stay here for their street assignments and report there at 6pm, you will be relieved from your post at 5am. Classes will be suspended until the criminal is caught." Kid stated, his voice was firm and serious. He kept his eyes forward, until he brought out a list from his pocket when he started to read.

"Eren Macintire and Stacy Reiner. You will be stationed at Death Avenue with Black Star and Tsubaki as Death Avenue is fairly large. Carla Stratbone and Kenzie Barnes, you are stationed at Silent Row. Maka Albarn and Soul Eater, report to Dead Man's Lane. Oxford..." Kid continued to list the names and streets one by one. Each student remembering clearly their position. It was their duty to catch this killer, and stop the fear that each family is experiencing.

"Now that you have been assigned your position, you may each go home and rest for tonight. A member of the DWMA will each come round with food at 1am, it is important that you do not leave your station unless someone has come to replace you. Stay by the side of your weapon. The list will be placed next to the mission board for reference if you have forgotten. You are dismissed."

* * *

Maka and Soul stretched as they walked down the street. Maka was more alert and determined to catch the culprit whereas Soul was still waking up from his nap.

"C'mon sleepy-head if you're this drowsy whilst we're on look out then I'll just have to hit you against the wall." Maka threatened.

"Jeeze, Maka. You're like a slave driver. By the end of the week I'll be all worn out. Lighten up I just finished sleeping a few minutes ago."

"Yeah you're outfit certainly shows it." Maka deadpanned. Instead of his usual outfit he just pulled on a white t-shirt and some jeans, slipped on some trainers and then left the door.

"Well I am going to be in weapon form all night so what's the point in dressing up?" Soul argued. "Besides, no one but you will know I'm dressed like this."

"You say as we walk through a street with people going home and between shops."

"What? Oh shit."

"Not a very well thought out plan, Soul. It almost six o'clock which means people just finished work just under an hour ago and are either heading home or hitting the town for shopping. So plenty of people can see your scruffy appearance." Maka sighed. "But it doesn't matter now, we're almost at our street. Are you going to change into your scythe form now or just hang out in your human form until the sun sets?"

"I guess I'll just change my form now. I'm starting to get chills anyway." He said just before his body started to glow pink and transported itself into Maka's hands.

"Alright then. Let's catch ourselves a child hunter."

* * *

Maka was having second thoughts on not taking a nap during the day. She was starting to fall asleep standing up, and Soul was already asleep in his weapon form, she was learning on the bottom of his handle. If Soul was awake he'd probably kill Maka for using him to lean on, but good job he wasn't awake.

Kid was stood just around the corner, watching Maka. If we wasn't already out of his mind, he would have skipped tonight for child hunting, but they were just getting louder...He'd only managed to kill two children that haunted him with the singing, but all the children he had murdered was following him, regardless. Watching his every move.

He was lucky that his father let him off the hook from helping with guarding the streets with Liz and Patty. Otherwise he'd never be able to sneak away. He took a breath and ran past Maka, she was on the very verge of sleep anyway. And it was clear she wouldn't hear him as he silently passed.

Maka's head shot up in a start, she picked up Soul and held him loosely. She continued looking forwards, unaware that Kid had slipped past her.

She heard a mute smash behind her, causing Maka to spin around rapidly. "Soul, Soul wake up." She whispered, shaking the weapon in her hands.

"Huh? What is it Maka?" Soul muttered.

"I think I heard something." Maka whispered, starting to walk up the street, checking the windows on all floors of the houses.

Soul sighed. "Of all of the class, the murderer had to pick the street we were guarding."

"Shut up," Maka said, spotting the window that was smashed a few houses ahead. She took a deep breath, and started to plan a route to get up to the second floor window. She then stood up carefully on a trash can, then the top of the first floor window, and jumped to grab a hold of the ledge of the broken window. She peering inside, looking for the murder. It was a bathroom, and the door was opened letting light from the hall to shine through. She heard a gargle, then a dull thud.

Maka's eyes widened. She pushed herself through the window carefully, then hid just behind the door. A shadow blocked the light to the bathroom as they started to walk into the bathroom.

Maka thought fast and hit the shadow with the back of Soul's blade, making the shadow fall to the ground unconscious.

She took a deep breath before pushing the shadow over to let the light shine on their face, she gasped out in surprise when she saw the identity of the attacker.

"What?!" she whispered. "KID?! He- he's the attacker?! Oh my…" Maka started to panic.

She shook her head trying to clear it, before switching the light on in the bathroom. Soul transform back into his weapon form to keep an eye on Kid. Maka breathed on the mirror before writing "42-42-564" into the fog. The mirror rung for a few moments before the face of Lord Death appeared.

"Maka?" Lord Death asked confused. "Aren't you-?"

"Shh! Lord Death please be quiet." Maka whispered.

"What's going on? Maka you're supposed to be on lookout."

"Yes, I know Lord Death but..We got him. The murderer."

"You did? Oh that's wonderful! What is your address? I'll send Spirit to come and collect him. Was there any problems in capturing him?"

"Well...He managed to sneak by me, and found his way into a house, I arrived just after another murder…"

"Oh that's horrible!"

"Yeah...But Lord Death…I think you might want to get here yourself…I think you need to see this." Maka said, looking away.

"Huh?" He said, cocking his head to one side in confusion. "Oh...okay then. I'll be there with Spirit in just a few moments. Please transport the criminal outside, without awakening anyone."

"Will do Lord Death." Maka said, before the image in the mirror disappeared. She took a deep breath and turned around to face Soul. "I wonder what he'll say when he see's that it's Kid…" Maka muttered.

"I've no idea...We should probably get him outside then." Soul said, looking down at him. He picked him up and put him on his shoulder. "Think you could open the window properly?"

"Yeah…sure." Maka said, pushing the window upwards, brushing the glass away from the ledge to minimize any damage to be dealt on Soul.

* * *

Maka was knelt down by Kid. They had managed to get Kid out of the house without alerting anyone in the neighbourhood, but it did take a lot of faffing about.

She pushed Kid's bangs to the side, needing to see his face clearly. She needed to know if it was actually him. But it was. Without and doubt. When she touched his skin, an electric shock went through her hand. She pulled away from him in surprise.

But she looked up when she saw the figure of Lord Death and her father Spirit floating over to them.


End file.
